Law and reality in publishing (seldom the same thing) from the author's side of the slush pile, with occasional forays into politics, military affairs, censorship and the First Amendment, legal theory, and anything else that strikes me as interesting.

22 April 2010

Impatient Link Sausages

Just a couple of amusing items... which should tell you more than you really want to know about my sense of humor.

I'm old enough to remember "conquering hearts and minds" as a principle of dealing with insurgency. We should just be glad that Guiding Light and General Hospital never became weapons of war in Saigon and the countryside... because that would almost certainly have violated some part of one of the Geneva Conventions. Or perhaps the Hague Convention prohibition on "dum-dum" bullets.

At least this Amazon brouhaha isn't an AmazonFail. It is, instead, an AmazonSuccess — and not just on civil liberties grounds, but on intelligent-governance and rational taxation grounds.

On the legal front, the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in a grey-market-v.-first-sale case, which will hopefully clear up some confusion... by June of 2011, anyway. In Costco v. Omega Watch, No. 09–1423, the Court agreed to decide whether an authorized purchase in a foreign market of watches containing copyrighted material, followed by import into the US and resale at below the manufacturer's retail price policy, is nonetheless allowed under the "first sale doctrine" in 17 U.S.C. § 109. This should matter to authors (not to mention to musicians, screenwriters, and the industries that distribute copyrighted works) for a very simple reason: If the Court decides that what Costco did was allowed, there will be no more territorial rights (or, at least, they won't be recognizable). In the long run, that's a good thing; in the short run, "utter chaos" would be an improvement. Of course, this will also get into questions of whether the Supreme Court should pay any attention to foreign law, because the "right" (or, at least, "internationally consistent") answer requires considering a European decision on construction equipment, grey markets, and territorial exclusivity within the EU...

Then, too, authors are frequently the targets/victims of collection lawyers... and the Court smacked the collection lawyer subindustry around a bit on Tuesday, ruling in Jerman v. Carlisle, No. 081200, that a "mistake of law" by a collection attorney is not the kind of bona fide error that insulates said attorney from a claim for wrongful collection activities under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq.. Which means that if a collection lawyer misinterprets what he may legally do — such as ignore the Americans With Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. because, as a collection attorney, he's somehow privileged to do so — he has no defense that he just made a mistake.

The Fine Print

Ritual disclaimer: This blog contains legal commentary, but it is only general commentary. It does not constitute legal advice for your situation. It does not create an attorney-client relationship or any other expectation of confidentiality, nor is it an offer of representation.

I approve of no advertising appearing on or through syndication for anything other than the syndication itself; any such advertising violates the limited reuse license implied by voluntarily including syndication code on this blawg, and I do not approve aggregators and syndicators whose page design reflects only an intent to use the reference(s) to this blawg without actually providing the content from this blawg.

Internet link sausages, as frequently appear here, are gathered from uninspected meaty internet products and byproducts via processes you really, really don't want to observe; spiced with my own secret, snarky, sarcastic blend; quite possibly extended with sawdust or other indigestibles; and stuffed into your monitor (instead of either real or artificial casings). They're sort of like "link salad" or "pot pourri" or "miscellaneous musings" (or, for that matter, "making law"), but far more disturbing.

I am not responsible for any changes to your lipid counts or blood pressure from consuming these sausages... nor for your monitor if you insist on covering them with mash or sauce.

Blog Archive

Warped Weft

Now live at the new site. I have arranged some of the more infamous threads that have appeared here by unravelling them from the blawg tapestry (and hopefully eliminating some of the sillier typos). Sometimes, the threads have been slightly reordered for clarity.

Other Blawgs, Blogs, and Journals

These may be of interest; I do not necessarily agree with opinions expressed in them, although the reasoning and writing are almost always first-rate (and represent a standard seldom, if ever, achieved in "mainstream" journalism). I'm picky, and have eclectic tastes, so don't expect a comprehensive listing.

How Appealing is aimed at appellate lawyers and legal news in general. If you care about the state of the law, start here — Howard's commentary is far better balanced, better informed, and better considered than any of the media outlets. To concentrate on the US Supreme Court, don't forget SCOTUSBlog.

Some academics' blawgs with a variety of political (and doctrinal) viewpoints:

The main European IP blawg of interest remains the UK-based IPKat, on a variety of intellectual property issues, with some overlap (with a less Eurocentric view) at IPFinance

The American Constitution Society blawg is a purportedly "liberal" counterweight to the so-called "Federalist Society" (which, despite its claims, should be called "Tory Society") that has yet to establish much coherence... but maybe that's all to the good.

Approximate Views

(page impressions since the last time the server's counters were reset, at present early 2007)